Commissioned by Sonos to create a sound reactive installation in collaboration with the musician Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange), The Principals created a 16-foot-tall canopy, 8-feet-wide by 36-feet-long covering the performance and grand stand seating area of the private workspace collective Neuehouse. Inspired by the work of Arthur Rimbaud, The Principals chose the name Ancient Chaos, a phrase from his poem Matinée d'Ivresse which speaks to a basic force of wonder within all of us at the hidden patterns of nature. The installation, both a sonic composition and a physical structure, creates sounds that verge on the architectural and architecture that verges on the fluid.

More information and a video of the installation in motion, after the break.

Created using a unique system developed by The Principals, the canopy is composed of 6000 individual pieces of silver-coated mylar “quilted” together and driven by a series of hi-powered stepper motors. Using a custom spectrum analyzer/motor driver system, The Principals split out a series of sound frequencies from Hynes' composition as well as ambient sounds to control individual panels of the structure. On the opening evening, after a panel discussion with The Principals and New Yorker Music Critic Sasha Frere-Jones, Hynes performed his composition live directly linked to the installation.